The accepted technical term for the mass of water sent rolling across the sea by a large undersea disturbance, usually an earthquake. Origin from the Japanese tsunami (津波) made up of "tsu" (津) "harbor, overflow" and "nami" 波 "wave." The usual etymology is "harbor" plus "wave" but "tsu" also refers to overflowing as in 津津 "tsutsu" "brimful." "Overflowing" seems more descriptive of the actual appearence of the harbor after the tsunami has come ashore.

Often now used metaphorically "A tsunami of public opinion drove Phil Anders from office when his extra-marital affairs became known."

BNJTokyo, who rode out the recent tsunami alert on the 53 floor of the Mori Building in Roppongi

Here are two sites that offer recorded pronunciations of tsunami. I hear a ts in the first. The second site contains pronunciations by an American male and a Japanese woman. The American says s, and I can't really tell about the Japanese woman. Her voice is "pretty" soft.

It must be very hard to pronounce one word like this. Sentence structure, at least in English, can play a role in how you say the word. I think I hear more than just "s" in both pronunciations. The Japanese woman's almost comes across as being "dz," but I don't really have a great ear for these things.

The "ts" is an aveolar affricate that is uncommon in initial position in English. It's similar to the final sound it "its" or the initial sound of the expression of mild disapproval that is spelled "tsk tsk."

The "u" is as in "boot" but without rounding.

The "n" and the "m" are indistinguishable from the corresponding English phones

The "a" is the "a" of "father" and the "i" is the vowel in "beet"

One way to get a good approximation of the Japanese pronunciation would be to put your teeth together and keep them that way while moving only your lips and tongue to say the word

No, I don't agree that the ending consonant clusterS approximates the initial sound. I will agree to the ending consonant cluster (without the S). Both "costs" and "lists" ends with three consonants, and I want to eliminate the first "S" So the initial cluster (affricate) in "tsunami" is similar to the final cluster in "cots" or "lots" for example. The IPA transcription is [ts].

saparris wrote:Here are two sites that offer recorded pronunciations of tsunami. I hear a ts in the first. The second site contains pronunciations by an American male and a Japanese woman. The American says s, and I can't really tell about the Japanese woman. Her voice is "pretty" soft.

I know nothing of old czars (I prefer the English, as I am
not Russian, nor Bulgarian), but I know I posted the
Howjsay site numerous times on WOTD (oops, do we still
have to stand in a corner if we say that???)

Or Iran's current president Ak-mah-din-e jad. And
the word Mehico. We were always taught Chilay for the
country, so I bristle at Chilly.
And there's also the Chinese. Xaioping (?) X is SH, I
think. Beiping, Beijing, Bejing ????
And here in the Plains: Missourah, or Missouri?